The Students Who Taught Me That Motivation Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All

Imagine…

Imagine having a student who hated writing. Whenever you said, “Today we’re going to write…” they groaned loudly for the whole class to hear. Now imagine you spend a 1/2 hour helping them—offering to scribe, creating sentence starters, brainstorming—and after all that you only managed to get 2-3 sentences out of them.

Sound familiar?

Well now imagine being able to whisper something into that reluctant writer’s ear that would make them magically pick up their pen and start to write. Not just a sentence or two, but a paragraph, a page full of writing?

Can you imagine the magic words that you would say? We’ve all looked for those words, and if you’re like me, you have a knack for finding words, but those magic words proved elusive.

Well, what if I told you that those magic words were something like, “I know this is really hard for you. I’m going to offer you 200 XP if you can finish this assignment in the next 30 minutes.”

That scenario is real, and that student was real. I get multiple versions of that student every year since I started working as a teacher in 2021. Every year, I am amazed that a simple gamification system gives me the ability to motivate students who have otherwise remained unmotivated by school.

What is Gamification in the Classroom?

Watch my Youtube video about gamification

Most of the time, when people talk about gamification, they’re talking about an app or a website. Duolingo is a great example. You earn points, level up, and unlock achievements. Many other apps are gamified nowadays because we’ve learned that people love rewards.

A gamified classroom is similar in some ways, but there are key differences. The main difference is that a gamified classroom isn’t based on students using or learning in an app or sitting in front of a computer. On Duolingo, you learn and get rewarded, level up by pressing buttons, scrolling, etc on a device. In a gamified classroom, you level up by completing your work and exhibiting positive behaviours. These are real-world activities.

In my classroom, students aren’t spending more time on devices. In fact, there isn’t more than 5-10 minutes of additional screen time per week. Instead, the classroom itself becomes the game. I sometimes compare it to Dungeons & Dragons more than a video game. The classroom becomes an adventure, a treasure hunt of sorts, where students are still completing the same assignments, writing the same tests, and learning the same curriculum—but now everything they do has an added sense of purpose. They know that their effort can earn them something.

I’ve found that this simple shift can be incredibly powerful, especially for students who are not motivated by typical measures of classroom success.

Unmotivated Learners

Some students naturally enjoy school. They like finishing assignments and take pride in getting their work done. They are motivated by achieving high grades and earning respect from teachers, peers and parents. We call these students “ideal” during transition meetings, and “the dream student.” Other students simply don’t have this drive. Some students are NOT motivated by completing their work. It doesn’t give them pleasure to complete a task or get an excellent grade. It’s easy to assume those students are lazy or unmotivated, but what I’ve learned is that, actually, for these students, the work is not worth the reward. The balance is tipped towards not completing the work because the reward of task completion is not sufficient for the level of effort involved.

For many of our reluctant learners, completing work is very difficult. They don’t enjoy the tasks. Sometimes they’ve struggled for so long in specific skills, like math or writing, that they’ve stopped believing they can succeed.

For those students, I might quietly say, “I know this is really hard for you. I’m going to offer you 200 XP if you can finish this assignment.” Something changes. The balance tips towards completion because the reward is sufficient.

The reward isn’t just about the XP. It’s about acknowledging that the task is difficult. It’s saying, “I see you. I know this isn’t easy.” In my experience, 95% of students who avoid assignments suddenly become willing to try with this approach. I’ve had several students whose previous teachers warned me that they almost never finished their work, yet those same students began completing assignments regularly in my classroom. I’m not saying this to toot my own horn. It’s a pattern that’s repeated every year. During transition meetings, the teachers from previous years tell me that XYZ students don’t write. And then every year, with the motivational tools that my gamified classroom offers me, those same students begin to learn that, actually, they can succesfully learn and engage with writing. Every year, I have students who leave my classroom feeling like, “Yes, I am a writer.”

To me, that’s what gamification is really about. It’s a way of recognizing effort, celebrating progress, and giving students another reason to engage with learning.

The Three Parts of My Gamification System

Over the years, my classroom gamification system has evolved, but it has always been built around three simple ideas.

The first is rewards. Students earn Experience Points (XP) for completing assignments, participating in class, showing perseverance, taking academic risks, or simply demonstrating the kinds of behaviours that help our classroom community thrive. The XP itself isn’t valuable, but what it represents is. It says, “I noticed your effort.”

The second part is consequences. Students can lose Gold Points (GP) for behaviours that interfere with learning. At the beginning of every year I explain that the fines aren’t a punishment—they’re simply part of the game. Just like in Monopoly, you might have to pay rent. In Mario Kart you might fall off the track. Every game has setbacks, and that’s what makes it interesting. Losing points doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It simply means you have another opportunity to make a different choice next time.

The final piece is what makes the whole system come alive: a reason to spend what they’ve earned.

Students use their Gold Points to purchase classroom privileges, which I call Powers. Some are real-world powers, like eating a snack during class, choosing where to sit, or listening to music while they work. Others are what I can ‘fantasy purchases’ that are purely for fun. Students can purchase a digital avatar, backgrounds, pets or decorations for their virtual world.

Why It Works

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that students aren’t all motivated by the same things.

Some students become obsessed with earning XP. They love watching the numbers go up and climbing the leaderboard.

Others couldn’t care less about XP, but they’ll do anything to earn enough Gold Points to buy a dragon for their avatar’s world.

Some students want to wear headphones while they work, sit beside a friend, or enjoy a snack during class.

And then there are students who don’t even care about the rewards—they just hate watching their Gold Points go down. They don’t want to buy anything; they just want to see their Gold Points increase.

I don’t think any one of these motivations is better than another. They’re just different.

That’s how gamification in my classroom has evolved. Every year I add layers to the system that motivates other learners. I don’t assume that every student is motivated in the same way. I try to create multiple pathways to success. Every student can find something that matters to them, and work hard in the classroom to achieve their goals.

When all of those pieces come together, something interesting happens. The classroom starts to feel different. Students encourage one another. They celebrate each other’s successes. They talk about the things they’re saving for. They remind each other when it’s time to settle down because they don’t want to lose points. Learning hasn’t changed, but the atmosphere has.

It begins to feel less like a classroom…and a little more like an adventure.

Gamification as a Way of Finding Strength

At the end of this year, I was chatting with a student with severe anxiety. That student had started the year in tears during every test, avoiding school during test days, and doubting every answer they gave on a test, beating themselves up about making mistakes. I offered that student XP if they could show up for tests with confidence. I asked them to define what that meant, and they agreed to a bargain: 500 XP for every test they completed confidently. Of course, they never cried or skipped a test again for the rest of the year.

At the end of the year, I asked that student if they wanted to do an optional presentation. The student said “Maybe…” and I congratulated them on their bravery. I said, “At the beginning of the year you would have said ‘No way!'” I continued by reminding, “I gave you 500 XP for every test you completed this year confidently, but the XP is fake. It’s imaginary.” And the student said, “I know.” And I responded, “The XP is fake, but the strength in you is real. The confidence you showed up with is real. I hope that you understand the power you have in you and you go forward to conquer more of your fears next year.”

Resources

I’ve never tried to sell anything on my blog, and I’m not going to start now. However, I would be disingenuous if I didn’t tell you that I have created my own gamification system. It works on Google Classroom and uses Google Sheets and Forms to automatically track where students are on the leader board. Students can also purchase Powers using Google Forms, creating a somewhat autonomous system, so I’m not managing all of this myself.

If you’re interested, contact me to learn more!